There Was More Than One
by Cradlerobber Speedo-kun
Summary: There was more than one reason Seamus ignored Harry for most of their 5th year... In fact, you could say these other reasons determined his ignoring Harry even more than the one he made clear. Warning: Slight spoilers and slashiness.


A/N: I have never written a Harry Potter fanfic before. In fact, I have never even thought to write one before now. (Hmph, guess that gives me a reason to stand out from the crowd.) Ah, well! There's a first time for everything! Anyway, I have just two warnings for this: first of all, this contains very slight spoilers for Order of the Phoenix. Very, very slight spoilers, not anywhere near me revealing who dies, don't worry. But if you do not want to have an inkling of anything you haven't read yet, then please stop reading now, because this has a very small set of spoilers for chapter 26. Also, this is a slash fanfic. Don't like, just leave, as I do not appreciate flames. I have a policy of flame me, flame you. Alright? Thanks.  
  
Oh, yeah, one last note. I honestly have no idea where I am going with this thing, so I apologize if it is a little erratic. And excuse the cheesy title. Review if you read, please! Meow meow! ^^  
  
There Was More Than One  
  
By Cradlerobber Speedo-kun  
  
So far, it had been a good day for Harry. Between the fact that most of his credibility had been restored by the article in The Quibbler, and the fact that Cho had just given him a small kiss on the cheek just moments before, he was having the best day he had had for a long time now. Harry was now standing outside the Transfiguration classroom, waiting for Ron and Hermione to arrive, basking in the memory from just a few moments ago when Cho had kissed him. He was almost completely lost in this when he felt a small tap on his shoulder.  
  
He turned around, and his eyes fell upon Seamus. Seamus looked uneasy at best, and was shooting glances all around the hallway, as if making sure no one was looking. In his hands he held a copy of The Quibbler. Harry didn't say anything, just looked at Seamus, waiting for him to say something. Finally, Seamus cleared his throat slightly, and, staring at Harry's knees, began to speak, "I believe you Harry. I even sent a copy to me mam. I... I'm sorry I didn't believe you."  
  
Harry was under the impression that Seamus had probably very rarely apologized to people, and was a little bit surprised by the included apology, "Err, uhh, thanks. I'm glad" He gave a genuine smile, for he was truly glad. It had been quite an awkward situation in the dorm the past few months stemming from the fact that Seamus thought he was a lying git, and it felt good to feel that tension lifted. He was about to turn back towards the classroom when Seamus said another quick "I'm sorry" and, looking about quickly, leaned closer to Harry and quickly kissed him on the cheek, in the same fashion as Cho had only five minutes earlier. Harry stood there, completely shocked, and Seamus ducked his head slightly and hurried into the Transfiguration room, his face flushed.  
  
"Harry? Harry, are you alright?" came Hermione's concerned voice, and Harry shook his head slightly, bringing himself back to reality. Everyone who had been in the corridor was gone, and he saw that Ron and Hermione were standing in front of him, looking slightly worried. He glanced at the classroom, and was about to tell them when the bell rang shrilly, indicating they should have already been in their classroom. "I'll tell you later." He said hurriedly, as they rushed into the room.  
  
A few hours later they were sitting in the Gryffindor common room, right next to the fireplace. Fred and George were busy peddling their illegal goods in one of the corners, and had attracted quite a crowd, but for once Hermione ignored them. This quite relieved Ron, as he always hated when Hermione reprimanded his brothers since she expected him to help to do so. Hermione, in fact, had just questioned Harry about what had happened earlier, mentioning that she and Ron hadn't expected him to be anything but happy the entire day, due to the fact that he had suddenley become the hero of the school once more. Harry sighed, "Could we go up to the boys' dorms? I don't feel like talking about it here. even if everyone is distracted by the twins' barfing tablets." A retching noise could be heard, and Hermione frowned, "Yes, I think that might be a good idea, especially since I do not think I can ignore their behavior for much longer. It's beginning to make me sick." Ron rolled his eyes, but Hermione didn't notice, and the three trooped up to Harry and Ron's dorm.  
  
When they entered the room, Seamus was lying on his back on one of the beds. He lazily looked over to see who had entered, and, seeing Harry, quickly sat up. His face became slightly flushed, "Oh, uh, hi Ron, Hermione. Harry. Um, have any of you seen Dean? I've been wondering where he is." Ron shook his head, "No, but he's probably in the common room. It's too crowded to be able to know who's there and who isn't." Seamus nodded quickly, "Yeah, he probably is there. Thanks, I guess I'll see you guys later." He got up and rushed past them, headed down the hallway at a breakneck pace towards the common room.  
  
Hermione stared after him, "How come he's acting so odd? I don't think I've ever seen him more nervous in my life!" Ron rolled his eyes, "Well, seeing as he thinks Harry is a nutter, he was probably afraid we were coming to assassinate him or something like that." Harry bit his lip, and shifted uneasily, but remained silent. They all shuffled forward into the room, and Ron closed the door behind them despite Hermione's protests at doing so. "Geez, Hermione, no one's gonna think that the teacher's pet of the millennium is getting it on with anyone, even if the door is closed. They'll think you're just forcing us to study." Hermione glared at Ron, but Ron didn't really seem to notice, having settled down on his bed and looking all ready to interrogate Harry.  
  
Hermione quickly followed suit, sitting down on Ron's trunk, and motioning for Harry to also sit down. Harry quietly sat on the edge of his own bed, facing the other two. Silence filled the room, before Hermione gave an impatient, "Well?" Harry finally willed himself to speak, not wanting to, but not up to irritating his friends at the moment, "Well, it's probably the real reason Seamus left the room acting like that, as he told me earlier that he believes me. He even sent a copy to his mum. not that I think she'll be convinced." Ron stared at him, "I don't see how any of that would explain why he left all flustered like that." Hermione glared at Ron again, "Shush, Ron! Let Harry continue, he was probably just about to explain a little more!"  
  
Not wishing to hear his two friends bicker, Harry cleared his throat and cut Ron off before he could respond, "Anyway, this was outside the Transfiguration classroom, and I was about to turn back towards the classroom since the bell was to ring any minute, when he said 'I'm sorry' again, and." Harry trailed off, hit by a sudden wave of embarrassment. How could he tell Ron and Hermione this? They'd think it was weird. He bet that neither of them had ever been kissed by a person of their own gender.  
  
Harry could also feel a bit of color rising up his neck and onto his cheeks, and became quite annoyed with himself over it. 'I'm getting all embarrassed over such a trivial thing! It's not like what I did was weird... it was Seamus who kissed me, not the other way around! Stop being an idiot and just tell them Harry!' The redness in his face faded away almost immediately, and he went on quite determinedly, "He kissed me. Right here, right where Cho had kissed me just a little before." He indicated where he had been kissed, and reprimanded himself slightly for slipping the bit about Cho, but neither Ron nor Hermione seemed to care.  
  
"He WHAT?!" Ron yelled, staring at Harry in disbelief. Harry nodded numbly, and Hermione shouted at Ron, "Ron! You're not helping, you idiot! Harry obviously needs to talk about it, otherwise he wouldn't have said anything to us!" Actually Harry didn't exactly want to talk about it, but he didn't really have a choice any more. "Harry, did anyone see this?" Hermione asked, turning away from Ron. Harry shrugged, "I don't think so. otherwise I'm sure that the whole school would know by now and be harassing me about it." Hermione nodded, "Yes, of course, of course." She lapsed into silence, and Ron quietly looked enraged at the fact that Seamus even had the nerve to even think of doing something like that.  
  
The door to the dorm creaked open, and they all jumped slightly. They looked up, expecting to see Neville, as they didn't expect Seamus to come back, regardless of whether he found Dean or not. Instead, Dean walked in, closing the door behind them. He nodded to them, "Hello everyone, I didn't expect to see Hermione here. But hello anyway." He smiled benevolently, apparently unaware of anything that had been said previous to his entry. But it wasn't to stay that way.  
  
"Dean! Seamus kissed Harry!" Ron said, completely devoid of tact as usual. Hermione whacked him on the head, "RON! If you don't shut up, the entire school will know! I never thought you were so bad about keeping things a secret!" Ron scowled at her, "Well, Dean and Seamus are best friends! Dean has a right to know!" Hermione frowned deeply, "That doesn't mean you should tell him! He should hear it from Seamus himself! What if..." Dean cleared his throat, and for once in her life Hermione stopped mid-sentence, and, along with the other two, looked over at Dean.  
  
He bowed slightly, "Thank you. Anyway, I already knew. And I would've found out sooner or later, knowing his track record of not keeping his mouth shut. But, I still think it would be better if you kept your voice down, Ron, seeing as not everyone would react to that fact all too kindly." Ron looked slightly ashamed and stared down at his hands, nodding slightly. Dean walked further into the room, and pulled a chair along, sitting down on it when he was closer to the other three, "That's better. I'm just glad that Seamus stayed down in the common room after all."  
  
Dean let out a sigh and ran his hand through his hair. "He really is turning into a head case." he murmured, more to himself than anyone else. Ron burst out again, but quieter this time, "Well, why did he kiss Harry, anyway?! He was just yesterday still thinking that Harry was mental, and now today he's kissing him!" He looked like he was going to say more, but a double-glare from Harry and Hermione shut him up before he could go on. Hermione turned to Dean, and in a much softer tone asked, "Dean, could you possibly explain this? You two are very close, after all. It is a rather quick change from the emotions he was expressing just yesterday."  
  
Dean nodded, "Yes; although I wish he were telling you himself, but I know he'd rather jump off the Astronomy Tower than do that, even if he was the git who came up with the idea to do what he did." He paused and looked over at Harry, "But you guys have to promise to not be awful to him because of it, alright? I don't think you would, but I'd rather have your word on it, nevertheless." There were murmurs of agreement, and Dean began to give his explanation, Harry paying very close attention to what he said.  
  
"Well, it really starts with the first day of school. And actually, it explains more than just him kissing you, Harry. The reason he was so avoidant of you this year wasn't just because he thought you were crazy, Harry, but also because, well, he was starting to have feelings for you which scared him. Which is completely understandable, because it tends to frighten people when they start having a crush on someone of their own gender. That's part of why he was avoiding you so much, because he was trying to convince himself that he thought you were insane and that he didn't like you because you were a liar who called his mum a liar. He was afraid that if he didn't it would mean his feelings would end up being real, which of course they were, but he didn't want them at all. So he pretended to hate you and avoided you, just so he could lie to himself."  
  
Ron and Harry stared at Dean in disbelief after he finished with his small speech, but Hermione didn't look overly surprised. "Well, it certainly explains things. And it does make a whole lot of sense, doesn't it?" She said, looking at Ron and Harry. They stared back at her, Ron's face covered in confusion, and Harry doing a goldfish imitation. She sighed irritably, "Well, the fact that Ron doesn't get it isn't too surprising, seeing as he has the emotional capacity of a log, but, really Harry, I thought you had more sense than that!" Feeling slightly insulted, Harry forced his vocal cords to actually work, "I. still don't quite get it."  
  
Hermione sighed again, rolling her eyes, "Boys." Dean tried to explain in shorthand form, "Harry. Seamus has a crush on you. It was easier for him to ignore this by convincing himself that you were a crazed liar, and therefore being hostile towards you." Harry nodded, processing the words and making sense of them. And it did make sense. Too much sense. He had enough to worry about what with occlumency lessons, Voldemort's rising again, Umbridge's reign of terror, and Cho's mixed messages, he didn't need to figure in a lovesick Seamus. Not that he thought he was lovesick, it was just a little crush after all. Surely it would fade soon enough!  
  
But he had a sinking feeling that it wouldn't just blow over and that he was going to wind up having to deal with it somehow. He looked solemnly at the other three, and opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off when the door was opened. Four sets of eyes turned their attention to the door, and Seamus stood uneasily in the doorframe, looking at the four. Just then, an explosion rocked what seemed to be the entire building, throwing everyone off balance. Hermione leaped to her feet almost immediately, "As a prefect, I order all of you, save Ron, to stay here! Come on, Ron, I bet that Fred and George have something to do with this..."  
  
She was out the door and down the hall before anyone knew it, and Ron was rushing after her as quickly as he could. Dean got up, grabbed Seamus by the shoulders and steered him towards the chair he had been sitting in. He forced him down onto the seat, "Stay here, Sea, and don't you dare go anywhere, got it?" Seamus nodded, although he looked like he'd rather run away. Dean smiled, "Alright. I'll be back as soon as possible... Can't stay away from all that action, can I?" He was walking to the door as he said this, and once there waved before disappearing into the inky blackness of the corridor.  
  
Harry slowly tore his eyes away from the door and looked at Seamus. Seamus' eyes were on the ground, and he was flushed and looked like he would like nothing better than to spontaneously combust. Harry did not want to ask it, yet somehow his vocal cords didn't care, and he heard his voice ask, "Why did you... uhh, you know... earlier?" He had begun by gesturing with his hands, but now they fell useless at his sides, having proved to be of no help. Seamus didn't even look up. He had begun to find the base of Ron's trunk to be incredibly interesting, and thus silence reigned supreme over the room, seemingly expanding to fill the entirety of the room.  
  
Harry had fully expected the silence to remain until Ron and Hermione returned, along with Dean and maybe Neville, but he was surprised to hear a tentative "I..." from Seamus. Harry had been boredly looking around the room, but now his gaze returned to Seamus, who had yet to look up. "I..." He began again, only to trail into silence once more. It seemed like he wouldn't stir again, but his voice came a little more boldly just seconds later, "I kissed you because I like you. A lot." The last part was said a little more meekly than the rest, but Seamus was now looking at him instead of Ron's trunk. He looked a little red in the face, but had a more Seamus- like facial expression than he had just moments before.  
  
But Harry had no idea how to respond. Yes, he had gotten the answer, and yes, he had sort of wanted the answer, but now he didn't know what to say. So he sat there, blinking and unsure of how to answer. Seamus sighed and looked away, "Alright, well, I told you at least. I suppose you must be disgusted now, firstly at the fact that I'm a homo, and secondly that of all I could like, it was you. I mean, it could've been Dean, that probably would've been safer. Or Justin, or Colin... oh wait, sorry, Colin's also a member of the 'I Have a Crush on Harry! Club', so maybe someone else like Lee would be a better idea... That would satisfy my homosexual tendencies, and at the same time I don't think either of them would be too freaked out, but, then again, Lee seems to have a crush on the twins, so that wouldn't be too helpful, so perhaps I should just stick to Justin or Dean. Probably Dean, since we are very good friends and he probably understands me best, I mean, it would make sense wouldn't it? Yes, it would, I know... but these things never work out correctly do they? No! Never!"  
  
Harry was rapidly getting lost in the deluge of words that the now-frantic Seamus was pouring out at a rate he had never heard the likes of before. To prevent the development of a headache from trying to keep up, Harry reached out and laid the tips of his fingers on Seamus' lips and gave a slight smile, "Seamus, I don't dislike you. I just was sorta... surprised earlier, that's all. But, I have to tell you that I honestly don't feel the same. And I'm sorry that I don't, because I don't want to hurt your feelings. But at the same time it'd be worse if I pretended I did, because that would just be a lie and those end up hurting more. I like Cho, which you may already know, but don't think I hate you. When I realized you liked me, I didn't freak out like Ron did, believe me." Seamus, who had begun by blushing when Harry put his hand on his lips, now looked quite a bit relieved by Harry's words. "And," Harry added, "If I do start to feel the same, don't worry because you'll be the first to know."  
  
Seamus visibly brightened, and was looking a lot more like his usual self by now, "You know, I should probably revise what I said earlier about Justin. It isn't very fair to have said what I did about him, as he actually is even more open-minded than that and swings both ways... Hey! Don't give me that look! I only know it because Hannah went out with him and said that they ended up both having crushes on Oliver Wood, which was actually sorta good because she said then they were really good friends and Justin was able to discuss Wood with someone without getting weird looks... although she said that sometimes it was a little annoying when he actually did want to discuss girls since she didn't really want to."  
  
Seamus finally stopped his rambling when the looks he was getting from Harry became progressively worse. "What?! I happen to be a part of a very good grapevine that goes between the houses!" Harry was shaking his head in disbelief, "How in the world could _anyone_ know all that?! Or even want to!" He blinked slightly and smiled sheepishly, "Of course, it always would be a little interesting to hear about the scandals of Hogwarts..." Seamus grinned widely, "Well, where should I start, then? I could tell you about Lee's apparent love for the Weasley twins, that Draco's girlfriend is cheating on him with Zabini Blaise, that Trelawney has some sort of lover..."  
  
Harry sighed, smiling, "Start wherever you want, Seamus, wherever you want..." 


End file.
